


Salt and Sugar

by DarthTella



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Jackie Tyler being Jackie Tyler, written for a tumblr prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-10 22:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15958529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthTella/pseuds/DarthTella
Summary: Rose has an epiphany about this new human Doctor while reaching for the sugar.





	Salt and Sugar

She couldn’t get rid of the taste. No matter how much Rose scraped her tongue against her front teeth the taste of sea salt just clung on to the tip of it. She needed to wash it away with something. This taste triggered memories that did nothing but crush her heart into a million tiny pieces. Now after all these years of nothing but blood, sweat and tears trying to get back to the Doctor she was just right back where she started on this goddamn beach. The irritating salty taste still lingering.

But it was somehow worse this time.

There was more than just the taste of the salt in the air. Now she could also still taste _him_. She wasn’t left here alone this time. The Doctor had somehow split himself in two, and this now human version of him was walking beside her. A Doctor who dared tell her exactly how he felt and whom she – in a flurry of conflicting emotions – passionately kissed.

No wonder the Doctor left without a word.

Rose was startled out of her thoughts as a tray clattered down in front of her. Jackie had led them into a warm little café just a short walk away from the beach and ordered them all some tea and sandwiches. A sudden rainstorm erupted while they were walking and now Rose felt chilled to the bone. She reached for her tea, taking a moment for the heat of it to warm her hands a little before settling it in front of herself. She was almost on autopilot as she reached for the packets of sugar. Rose somehow didn’t see the other hand that was also reaching over, and long fingers brushed against hers. Both hands halted in mid-air, and both abandoned their quest for sugar as those long fingers curled around her hand. A very familiar palm slid against hers and she allowed her fingers to curl around it as their hands came to rest on the tabletop.

Rose studied their hands for a moment. They fit together like they always did. Reality came crashing down on her like a tidal wave. This hand was the Doctor’s hand! She watched it get sliced off by an angry Sycorax!

And if this was his hand... then that must mean...

“Doctor?” Rose’s voice was all but a broken whisper. The Doctor squeezed her hand tighter, and she could feel him scoot a bit closer to her.

“Hello.” The Doctor whispered back, his voice cracking slightly with emotion. Rose’s lips tipped up in a small smile when she realised that they were echoing the same conversation they had just after he regenerated. After she was just starting to come to terms with who that new man was standing in front of her. She finally looked up into his eyes for the first time since leaving that beach. They were the same deep brown eyes she remembered, but now they were shining with unshed tears and such hope and (dare she think it?) love.

“Doctor.” She said again, this time making it a statement of fact.

“Rose Tyler.” He drawled, enticing a giggle out of her.

“Good, ya know each other’s names.” A third voice rang out from across the table, breaking their moment. “Now, drink your tea before you catch your death!” The Doctor rolled his eyes at Jackie.

“Mum!” Rose hissed. She was about to really let into her, already preparing a speech on how the Doctor had been mostly polite during her reunion with Pete, but was thrown off track by the Doctor’s laughter.

The two women stared at him.

“Sorry, sorry.” He said getting his laughter under control, wiping the tears from his eyes, but he was still openly crying. Jackie reached across the table and laid a comforting hand on his arm, and the Doctor clutched at her hand too.

“It’s just... I missed you so much. Both of you.”

Rose had to blink through her tears, as she was now holding both the Doctor’s and her mother’s hands. She never imagined he’d miss her mother, what with all the disparaging comments he’d made during the entire time she’d known him. But now she saw them for what they truly were; just a bit of ribbing that was common to family members. He’d even done it to Mickey, before he finally admitted that he was always proud of him.

They weren’t just his friends. They were his family!

“Oh, sweetheart.” Jackie cooed. “We missed you too.”

The Doctor rose from the table, breaking his grasp on their hands but still reaching out for them. Rose realised his intent first, stood up and walked into his arms with Jackie following immediately after.

This little family had a lot of healing to do, but they were making their first steps towards it.


End file.
